Heavy sentences handed down to Kurdish politicians
Heavy sentences handed down to Kurdish politicians
People in Batman and Patnos, a district of Aðrý, marched against heavy prison sentences of Kurdish politicians.
However, public prosecutors requested new heavy prison sentences for Kurdish politicians. Diyarbakýr 6th Heavy Penal Court asked 40 years imprisonment for newly elected deputy Ahmet Türk and 10 year for Hatip Dicle, who is also just been elected.
Both, Türk and Dicle are accused of “making propaganda for an illegal organization,” “committing crime without being members of an illegal organization” and “praising crime and criminals” due to their various speeches and books.
While more than 1,500 Kurdish politicians are currently in prison mostly for speeches they made, 11 others have been arrested after being handed down prison sentences of 91 years and eleven months in total as the result of the trial on the "Aðrý Union of Kurdistan Communities Turkey Assembly (KCK/TM).
The decision was taken by the final hearing on 14 June before the Erzurum 2nd High Criminal Court.
According to report, 18 defendants were charged with "being members of an illegal organization". They were taken into custody and arrested subsequently in the course of operations carried out on 13 February 2010 in Patnos, Doðubayazýt and Diyadin as districts of Aðrý and in Van and Muþ, three cities in the south-east of Turkey. Employees of the head office of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were also among the defendants as well as party members and a journalist.
The defendants’ request to present their defense in Kurdish was refused by the court board as usual and written in the minute "the defendants spoke in an unknown language" when the defendants insisted to speak in Kurdish.
Mehmet Babayiðit, Deputy Mayor of Doðubayazýt, journalist Mirza Mehment Þen and Yusuf Yýlmaz, Mayor of Patnos, were also received prison sentences of six years and three months each.
However, public prosecutors requested new heavy prison sentences for Kurdish politicians. Diyarbakýr 6th Heavy Penal Court asked 40 years imprisonment for newly elected deputy Ahmet Türk and 10 year for Hatip Dicle, who is also just been elected.
Both, Türk and Dicle are accused of “making propaganda for an illegal organization,” “committing crime without being members of an illegal organization” and “praising crime and criminals” due to their various speeches and books.
While more than 1,500 Kurdish politicians are currently in prison mostly for speeches they made, 11 others have been arrested after being handed down prison sentences of 91 years and eleven months in total as the result of the trial on the "Aðrý Union of Kurdistan Communities Turkey Assembly (KCK/TM).
The decision was taken by the final hearing on 14 June before the Erzurum 2nd High Criminal Court.
According to report, 18 defendants were charged with "being members of an illegal organization". They were taken into custody and arrested subsequently in the course of operations carried out on 13 February 2010 in Patnos, Doðubayazýt and Diyadin as districts of Aðrý and in Van and Muþ, three cities in the south-east of Turkey. Employees of the head office of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were also among the defendants as well as party members and a journalist.
The defendants’ request to present their defense in Kurdish was refused by the court board as usual and written in the minute "the defendants spoke in an unknown language" when the defendants insisted to speak in Kurdish.
Mehmet Babayiðit, Deputy Mayor of Doðubayazýt, journalist Mirza Mehment Þen and Yusuf Yýlmaz, Mayor of Patnos, were also received prison sentences of six years and three months each.
